I
know I just recently put up a new Sandman
review and did another Good Omens post, but here’s another Neil
Gaiman-related write-up. I got this book as a Christmas gift and really enjoyed
it (spoilers.)
When
“Fat” Charlie Nancy’s father dies and he flies from London to his childhood
Florida home for the funeral, he gets a lot more than he bargained for. His old
neighbor reveals that 1) Fat Charlie’s father was actually Anansi, the spider
trickster god of legend, and 2) Fat Charlie has a brother he doesn’t know
about. Although Fat Charlie is curious to meet Spider, his brother, the reunion
quickly goes south, as Spider takes more after their father in both godlike-
and trickster-qualities. Fat Charlie just wants his life to go back to normal,
but it might take some magic to make it happen.
I’ve
now consumed a few different Neil Gaiman works/adaptations in an urban fantasy
vein, and each draws from different sources for its fantastical elements. While
I remember Anansi from stories I read as a kid (and a Wishbone episode that of course featured Wishbone dressed up as a
spider!) and I know Orlando Jones’s superb take on Gaiman’s version of the
character from watching the first season of American
Gods, this book uses those stories as a jumping-off point to go somewhere
new. Anansi Boys does a great job of
mixing magic and lore with the mundanity of everyday life, while simultaneously
showing that everyday life can still have plenty of the absurd behind it. In
among the spiritual journeys to the beginning of the world and Spider’s magic
that ranges from subtle nudges to audacious displays of power, I like the
little touches like Fat Charlie’s cliché-spouting boss or his pinched,
distrusting soon-to-be mother-in-law.
Even
though it’s really Fat Charlie and Spider’s story, not Anansi’s, the guys’
absent father maintains a premise throughout the book: in Fat Charlie’s
memories of him, in how his legacy does or doesn’t live on through his sons,
and in the interludes in the narration. Several classic Anansi stories are
shared, including the Tar Baby story popularized in the U.S. as a Br’er Rabbit
tale. I also really like the periodic emphasis in the book on stories
themselves and the oral tradition. It digs into the idea of stories as life, as
creation, of stories having power to make the world move. These passages are
definitely the most beautifully written in the book and are probably among my
favorites.
At
times, I do think the story gets a little overstuffed. While it takes some fun
twists and turns and the characters and their foibles are
interestingly-written, there are places where, for me, everything spirals out a
bit too far and could’ve stood to be a little tighter. Still, it uses some
really neat ideas to spin a good yarn (Anansi would be proud,) and I’m glad to
have read it.
Warnings
Language,
sexual references, a few scenes of strong violence, some drinking/smoking, and
thematic elements.
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